1 Dress 4 Looks Take 45

Gothic lolita is really not my forte. In big part because I haven’t invested in the necessary pieces and my attempts at gothic always look really classic, but also because that’s just the substyle I’m least familiar with. Luckily, Haenuli’s Just One Bite, despite being my OG gothic dream dress, is still incredibly elegant, which makes coording it just that little bit easier. Hopefully this post will add some good coords to my bank of future outfits!

Look 1: Is This Goth?

| Haenuli x I Do Declare blouse | yoke, cuffs and ribbon belt from Meta’s Classical Sister | Innocent World Shanti OTKs | Hush Puppies boots | Vierve Vampur bonnet | offbrand flower clip | After Midnight necklace | Enchanted Dream Wear necklace |

I keep telling myself that I will stop using these blouses for flatlays because they’re a nightmare to make them look presentable, and then come up with these ideas that I simply have to try out. This is the best that I managed for this particular flatlay and it seems that the coord would work when worn too, but you never really know until you try. And I want to try this at some point. I may end up swapping the black flower clip for the black wig, but this is quite alright so far. It may be the most typically gothic outfit that I’ve put together without going all black.

Look 2: Lavender is Grey

| Chess Story Gift from Budapest blouse | Enchantlic Enchantilly The Crown of the Violet Princess tights | offbrand shoes | Cutie Creator headbow | detachable bow from the blouse | Gravelvet Iridescent Princess necklace | Peacockalorum brooch | offbrand brooch and ring |

This is me proving a point that lavender and grey are practically interchangeable. Yes, they are still two different colours, but just look how well all the lavender pieces work with this dress! I wish that I had something to add to the wrist, like black bracelets, but in the absence of anything either black or lavender, I kept things bare. But I should probably add some beads to my shopping list and make some bracelets. If I’m managing to use both my black and lavender pieces, neither of which is a common colours within my wardrobe, then it’s better to have those basics at the ready.

Look 3: White Queen

| Lady Sloth Snowflake blouse | Baroque Repose of Queen tights | Vivienne Westwood x Melissa Anglomania heels | offbrand crown | Strike a Pose pin | Voodoodolly ring | Le Petit Four Warrior Sacred Heart necklace |

Inspired completely by the jewellery, I wanted to create a look that was very regal and elegant, yet on the understated side. This one does exactly that and I want a reason to wear it. It’s astonishing that the bronze-y tone of the necklace ended up being a great match for the bronze-y tone of the ring, I hadn’t even thought of that and only noticed it when I laid the items side by side. If I was ever to upgrade this look slightly, it would be with armour pieces. Because a queen can be a warrior too! I’ll leave it up to you to decide whether this particular queen would be good or evil.

Look 4: Dark Wa

| Enchantlic Enchantilly The Crown of the Rose Princess tights | Cutie Creator headbow | Patisserie Pink Lock and Key brooch | vintage necklace | offbrand blouse, haori, obi, shoes, hair clip, brooch and gloves |

As usual, I leave the most experimental look for last. Although in this case I don’t think it needs that much further tinkering with, most of what I’m unsure of here is due to trying to fit a haori silhouette into a lolita one on a flatlay. I feel like this would work quite well worn and I might give it a go. The gloves are a choice, certainly, but I felt like there needed to be something there for interest and I wasn’t feeling any of my wrist cuffs. As I said, experimental, but I feel like this is more than workable!


In the end I put together and photographed six looks, and still ended up with about one and a half that I haven’t even tried (half because I had a version of one that I was more OTT). Some of those that I decided not to feature here are arguably more put-together, but I also feel that it’s because they’re safer. A more vintage-inspired elegant take on this dress with ivory isn’t is guaranteed to work, so while it’s nice to have tried it, I much prefer to feature the more out-of-the-box looks here. Ultimately though it all ends up in the coords bank, so all that’s left to do is wait for a suitable occasion to wear these.